


What's A Smile?

by MATurity_LIES



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Appa (mentioned) - Freeform, Gen, Haru (mentioned) - Freeform, Lao Beifong (mentioned), Momo (mentioned), Poppy Beifong (mentioned) - Freeform, Teo (mentioned) - Freeform, The Duke (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:20:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27152365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MATurity_LIES/pseuds/MATurity_LIES
Summary: In which Toph asks what a smile looks like.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 155





	What's A Smile?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [some would sing (scream)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20233366) by [ZenzaNightwing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZenzaNightwing/pseuds/ZenzaNightwing). 



> Vaguely inspired but inspired nonetheless. At "He is smiling. Maybe she can't see it, but she knows he is." My mind ran away with me and I had to write this down before I did anything else.

Toph thinks she has a vague idea of what expressions are when her Mother whispered for her to “smile, dear” in front of a guest. He and her Father are talking business over lunch, they, the women, are only there for show. She knows that.

That was before Mother took in a sharp breath and called for a servant to come take Toph away before she further hurt Toph’s poor, fragile little heart.

Her eyebrows pinched together, and her ears burned with embarrassment. She heard a low wounded sound coming from her Mother as she did so.

She asked her Mother what a smile was later, when she was holding her hand on a walk through the garden. The sun was beginning to set, falling behind the walls for their estate. Mother is checking in on her. Making sure she’s well enough to eat dinner. Her thumb was on her wrist, feeling her Mother’s heartbeat.

Her heart jumped.

Mother was quick to excuse herself, cancelling family dinner and ordering for her plate to be brought into her room.

That was fine.

Father usually ate in his office anyways.

She just wanted answers.

Every time she’s asked since then was met with panic. She asked the servants. She didn’t bother with her parents; they wouldn’t answer her anyways. The closest she got was with a new maid who wasn’t speaking in her direction, she probably assumed she was a servants’ daughter. An explanation was on the tips of her tongue soon swallowed when her voice turned her way, finally realising she was talking to the young lady of the house. Her paycheque dependant on how quiet Toph is, unblemished by the corners of the padded furniture and already censored words. She learnt to stop asking.

* * *

She tried to ask the Gaang once when the dirt grew cool and they were huddled the warmth of the fire. Snoozles squawked and told her “It’s what you do when you’re happy.” in that stupid, holier than thou tone. Twinkle toes fervently agreed, droning on about visual features that meant nothing to her and Sugar Queen continued to stir the pot in silence, still upset about Aang’s bruises from training that day. She rolls her eyes and accepts the bowl Katara gives her. Seeing people can be so blind sometimes.

* * *

Later, Zuko became her eyes when her feet were burnt. She sat on his shoulders; arms wrapped around his head. And even long after her feet were healed, she trusted him to hold onto her ankles as she had him run around the temple, chasing Teo, The Duke, and Haru in a game of tag. He always warned her when he was ducking out of The Duke’s reach or jumping out of Teo’s. Her laughs echoed through the temple as Zuko ducked his head and leapt forward allowing her to tag Haru square on the back, fingers splayed out like a claim before he clamoured away.

Zuko never forgot she was blind but never treated her awkwardly when she had to remind the others. Not to say Sparky isn’t awkward, because he is. He just doesn’t get more awkward when attention is drawn to her lack of sight.

* * *

Tucked safely in the corners of Appa’s saddle, Toph heard the others ooh and ah at the sunset. She seethes and hunkers down, sinking further into her portion of the wall, loosely sandwiched between Katara and Zuko. What’s so great about a sunset anyways? The sun rises and sets every day!

Zuko must’ve noticed because he asks her if she wants him to describe it.

Gripping the saddle tighter, she says yes.

It takes him a while to find the words, but he describes it slowly, giving her time to conjure the solidity of the earth beneath her feet.

According to Zuko the sunset looks like the side of a cliff, striped with different layers of rock.

_At the top of the sunset is a thick layer of dust, soft and malleable with pricks of stars – like small weeds peeking through; some clumped together, others far far away. The top is quiet and cold, like how the temple is at night when the last embers of the fire burn out and everyone slowly falls asleep._

_Half-way to the sun are three layers of mud, becoming drier and sturdier the further down you go. The stripes aren’t even, they blend with each other, rippling like water, gradually becoming warmer as they come closer to the lava beneath the surface. They’re warm like a campfire or a hug. This is where the most clouds are, fluffy, like Appa is._

Toph hears the others go quiet, turning their heads to hear Sparky’s vivid description. Zuko, evidently clams up. He stumbles over his words and his hands come up to pull at his collar. She bumps his knee, hearing him gulp down his heart which has jumped to his throat.

“The last two stripes are blazing, Agni’s light stings like a slap,” he winces. “It’s- it’s uh- it’s hard to actually look at because of how bright it is. Sorry- it’s probably more accurate to how your feet felt when I burnt them. Or maybe metal on a hot day? Sorry, I can’t-”

Quietly, Toph asks him what a smile looked like and his heartbeat slows to something more protective. Something in her hurts when she thinks it might be because he is a big brother.

“Well,” he intones wry and vaguely teasing, “There’s different kinds of smiles. What do you want to know?”

“Sokka says it’s something you do when you’re happy.”

Zuko pauses. She hears his chin brush his collar as he turns his head – presumably, to look at Sokka.

Then, he pulls his knees to his chest and stretches his arms out in front of him.

_A happy smile is when the corners of your lips pull upwards, and your eyes squeeze closed, and a breath comes out that almost sounds like a laugh._

_Say, when Aang smiles, he’s louder. His voice goes airier and his mouth grows so big it takes up half of his face. He smiles like the world is wonky and a little bit wrong, but that’s okay because that’s what makes it fun. Because everything is just a new journey or a new toy he hasn’t puzzled out just yet. You can see all his teeth. All of them. At this point I know his back teeth and some of his baby teeth by name._

Toph laughs when she hears Aang huff from Appa’s head. Across from her, Suki and Sokka snicker. Just to try it out, she smiles at Zuko the way Aang smiles. He taps her cheeks, gesturing for her to smile even wider before he hums in approval.

_When Katara smiles, it’s a quiet affair. All motherly love and lullabies. Her lips never pull as far as Aang’s when she smiles. The top low of her teeth usually rest on her bottom lip because the faintest overbite._

Zuko’s voice wavers as Katara taps her fingers against her knee and he clarifies. _Not an insult. Just an observation._ He clears his throat. “She smiles like there is still hope in the world. Sometimes, her smile is a bit dangerous because if there isn’t hope, she’ll make it. At most, all you hear is a quiet snort or the way her sleeves shift when she tucks her hair… bits. Hair… locks… strands? Hair… hair loopies? Hair loopies! When she tucks her hair loopies behind her ear.”

Her head snaps up. “You have hair loopies?!”

“Yeah, and a braid.” Katara snorts and Toph hears what he means when the fabric of Katara’s sleeve moves up with her arm. She makes grabby hands at the sound of Katara’s quiet laugh, demanding to see them. Katara obediently shuffles closer and guides her hands into her hair. Her forefinger and her thumb slide down the thin strands. Katara’s hair is rougher than hers. Thicker and maybe curlier. Rounded… bits at the top holding the strands together as they disappear into her bun. She goes back up to the bits.

“Beads.” Katara says. “They’re made of bone and painted blue with dye we make from lapis.”

Zuko reminds her it’s the colour of water as Toph feels the bumps of Katara’s braided hair, intertwined with itself until it is too thin to braid further and tied off with a worn piece of string.

Suki leans to get a better look. “Actually, how do you do your hair?”

“Oh! I just...” Suki and Sokka swap places so Suki and Katara can talk about hair while Sokka guards the supplies.

Sokka asks what his smile looks like.

Immediately, Zuko says, “A smug cat-owl. Like when Momo went in somebody’s sleeping roll and only you know whose it is and it’s not yours.”

Toph barks out a laugh. Sokka whines. She hears Aang and Katara’s smiles in their laughs. Aang really does have a big smile. Even against the wind and facing away she can hear his smile. And while Katara’s is smaller, it isn’t any less happy.

As their laughter dies down, Sparky has some kind of revelation. “Actually, now that I think about it, Sokka you don’t smile all that often. You smirk.” He turns back to Toph. “Instead of both corners, it’s just one. Smug and happy are different things.”

Sokka crosses his arms. “Whaaaat? What’s that supposed to mean?”

It takes Zuko a long while to figure out how to say it. He stumbles over his words and sticks out his tongue like they taste bad.

Maybe they do.

Toph never stutters.

He takes in a breath and starts over.

“Sokka smiles like he’s proud of you.”

_It’s small, sincere, and very very brief. Because Sokka’s brief. He lives a fast-paced life. We all do, I guess, but him especially as the one who has to plan and pave their path before they run it._

Toph twists her fingers in the fabric of her pants. “You said there were different kinds of smiles. Explain.”

Zuko huffs affectionately. “Alright, alright. Let’s see…”

**Author's Note:**

> I stared blankly at my screen for too long when I tried to describe Sokka's smile. I kept scrolling through screencaps and realised he doesn't smile that often. He smirks like a smug one but,,,
> 
> Off the top of my head I can only name the time he went ice-dodging with Bato and when he reunited with his dad.
> 
> Then I had to figure out whether or not Zuko has seen Sokka smile.


End file.
